• Bicoastal act

  Jill Ragee has lived in NYC and LA trying to make it in the entertainment industry.

  
  
• From the bright city lights of New York City to the movie capital of the world, Jill Ragee is bound and determined to be a success.
  
  It's a goal she has had since she was five and first sang in public.
  
  "It was in a church production and I can still hear the applause afterwards," she says. "I've always remembered that feeling. Ever since that point I wanted to be in this business."
  
  Since graduating from Iowa State in 1996 with a major in English, Ragee has pursued her dream with varying degrees of success.
  
  She admits there are times when she wondered if she could make a career out of her passion.
  
  "Things weren't going so well after I first got to New York and I was contemplating coming back to Iowa and going to grad school," she says. "Then two weeks later something broke and I stayed."
  
  That something was a five-line part in a Woody Allen film, which got Ragee her Screen Actors Guild card.
  
  A foot in the door and some savvy marketing has enabled Ragee to pay the bills for the past decade. Utilizing her acting, modeling and musical abilities, Ragee has performed wherever the business takes her.
  
  "I went to New York to be a rock star," she says. "But acting and modeling paid the bills."
  
  After seven years in New York City, her journey has come to Los Angeles. Along the way, Ragee has performed on cruise lines, in plays, singing in restaurants an clubs and appearing in broadcast and television advertisements. She has established a website (www.JillRagee.com) and with her father established an online entertainment consulting company (www.ShowBizTalk.com).
  
  Ragee has developed a niche as a "plus size model," working for Lane Bryant, Tommy Hilfiger, Burlington Coat Factory and appearing in a national commercial for Always Maxipad with its catch phrase "Hey, We're Not all a Size Six!"
  
  "That commercial aired for two years and paid my bills for two years," Ragee says.
  
  On both coasts, Ragee has continued to work, maintaining her coveted Screen Actors Guild insurance ("it's the same plan as Tom Cruise has," she says). There are times however when she is forced to take jobs like most actors without a regular gig.
  
  "I've worked in a bar, been a waitress, even a singing cocktail waitress, was a telemarketer, dog walker and a certified massage therapist. Now I'm looking to use my English degree and teach English as a second language – anything that brings in a little money," she said. "If you stay in this business, you have to have jobs that are flexible so you can pound the pavement during the day."
  
  Not only is Ragee pounding the pavement, but she has five different agents working for her. She recently filmed a segment for "Entertainment Tonight" on plus size modeling with the possibility of working as an on-air personality.
  
  She is also being considered for pilots of new television series and continues modeling and singing. It's a life she plans on living for a while more – regardless if she makes the big time or not.
  
  "I'm going to keep on pushing, knocking on doors and meeting people," she says. "The minute you step out of the field and give it up for a year, someone will jump into your spot.
  
  "I'm not ready for that to happen yet."

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